Marlborough Book Festival - Kate Duignan

A Friendly Cross Examination - Kate Duignan in conversation with Laurie Murdoch.

Come and hear Blenheim barrister Laurie Murdoch’s friendly cross examination of author Kate Duignan’s life and influences.

The two met in Dunedin when Kate was a recipient of the prestigious Burns Fellowship at Otago University in 2004, and Laurie was studying law.

Kate has since earned a PhD from Victoria University and published her second novel, The New Ships, whose main character is a Wellington lawyer. A novel of acute moral choices, it is a rich and compelling meditation on what it means to act, or to fail to act.

The book was shortlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and her first novel Breakwater (2001) received critical acclaim. Kate’s work has been widely published in journals and anthologies.

She lives in Wellington with her partner and children.